Move More

What? Move more? But I’m tired! Just moving around makes me tired. Going to the grocery store feels like running a marathon. I’m exhausted just moving around doing chores. Why would I want to move more?

Exercise can be intimidating. I get it. It doesn’t sound like fun. It sounds like a lot of hard work. And let’s face it…being overweight makes you tired. When you are carrying around excess weight, it takes more energy to do EVERYTHING. It’s hard to find the desire and motivation to do something that you think will just make you more tired. But guess what? There’s no way around it. If you want to improve your health and lose weight, you need to move more than you currently are. Sorry. It is hard at first. There’s no getting around it. If it was easy, everyone would do it!

Ya know how they say exercise gives you energy? It’s true. I know what you’re thinking…there’s no way something so exhausting can give you energy…but it does! You just have to do it and stick with it! It’s not like you feel like you just drank a Red Bull or anything, but you do feel better! The more weight I lost, the more energy I had. The more active I became, the more energy I had. It can feel like a vicious cycle. You need energy to exercise in order to lose weight to have more energy. But I promise you, it does get easier and it is totally worth it!

So what’s the secret? Wait for it…here it comes…hold your breath…the secret is that there is no secret. You just need to do something. START SMALL! You cannot go from leading a sedentary lifestyle to working out five days a week overnight! You also should not measure yourself against anyone else. Take an honest look at yourself and see where you’re at. Do you get winded after walking for 5 minutes? So what! Then just walk for 5 minutes. But then do it again and again until it gets easier. As it gets easier, add a few more minutes. It’s OK to start out slow. Don’t put yourself down because you can “only” do 5 minutes. That five minutes could be saving your life.

You don’t have to do it like they do on TV. You don’t need a trainer and you don’t need to work out for HOURS a day. You just need to do more than you are currently doing. If you try to do too much too soon, you might get injured and not be able to do anything. Even worse, you could set yourself up for disappointent which could lead to quitting. Quitting is the worst thing you can do. If you try something but fall short, it’s okay. You are still a success because you tried. And then you just keep on trying. You will stumble and you may even fall, but never give up. Learn from your mistakes and move on. Guilt will not help the situation – trust me!!

Set REALISTIC goals. It’s good to push yourself. It’s not good to set your goals so high that you cannot achieve them and start to think of yourself as a failure. Come on, I know we all do it. “Well if I couldn’t do that, why do I even bother?” How many times have you said that? You should bother because YOU ARE WORTH IT. You deserve a healthy and happy life. You don’t want to continue being a spectator on your own life. YOU CAN DO IT. So quit reading and go move around for 5 minutes. You will thank me later.